Empowering Parents and Families: Building Leadership Skills and Capacity Inside and Outside the School System
In this interactive, hands-on, strategy-development session led by a team from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, participants will think critically about how to design equity-driven school-family partnerships informed by Karen Mapp’s Dual-Capacity Building Framework for School-Family Partnerships and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform’s Family Leadership Framework. Putting Annenberg’s “smart education systems” idea into practice, participants will also reflect on how their current school, district, and community structures and practices align with these frameworks, and develop ideas and action steps to improve current practice or implement new ones.
The session will be organized into three parts: Learning, Reflection, and Planning. By the end, participants will have completed a quick analysis of their schools’ current school-family partnership practices and developed a plan for how to deepen their work to build dual capacity and support family leadership.
Suggested Participants
This workshop will work well for teams from the same district, school, or community that consist of district and school administrators, staff, teachers, and community-based partners and parent leaders. However, individual participants and/or teams with representation from one or two of the stakeholder groups listed above will also benefit.
*Pre-Reading
All registered participants should read the following documents in advance of the pre-conference workshop:
- Partners in Education: A Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships
- The Family Leadership Self-Assessment Rubric: An Indicator Tool for School Districts
Session
Student, Family, and Community Engagement
Presenters
Keith Catone (Associate Director of Community Organizing and Engagement, AISR); Joanna Geller (Senior Research Associate, AISR); Angela Romans (Co-Director of District Systems and Administration, AISR)
Recalibrating School-Wide Discipline and Student Support: Building a Restorative and Accountable Approach
Students, teachers, administrators, and district leaders all over the country are seeking to create innovative systems for reducing discipline problems in schools. With secondary school principals playing leading roles, these stakeholders are seeking alternatives to ineffective and inequitable disciplinary policies and practices that result in the use, overuse, and disproportional use of punitive and exclusionary sanctions that adversely impact students academically, socially, developmentally, and emotionally. Most educators aspire to help students develop the habits and skills of self-management, self-discipline, and social and emotional efficacy. However, the gap between these goals and current disciplinary practices is often great, the strategies for creating change are not clear, and the core elements of a different approach are not evident.
In this workshop, participants will (1) develop an integrated vision of school-wide discipline and student support, (2) improve their understanding of the role of school climate and culture in discipline and student support, (3) explore the qualities of an accountable and restorative model, (4) learn the components of an effective system of discipline and student support, (5) think together about a school’s vision (it’s mission, beliefs, and values) and how it provides direction for a school-wide discipline and student support model, and (6) explore school-wide initiatives that can become part “of the culture” and create an improved school climate.
Suggested Participants
This workshop is designed for district and school leaders, educators, and school-based teams—including support staff, counselors, social workers, psychologists, and special-education coordinators—as well as family and community leaders who work with youth on issues related to education, discipline, and social justice.
Pre-Reading Materials
Shifting Gears Chapter 2.pdf
Recalibrating Climate Culture and Discipline.pdf
Session
Student, Family, and Community Engagement
Presenters
Larry Dieringer (Executive Director)
Extreme Differentiation in the Math Classroom
Tailoring instruction to meet each student’s specific needs is an essential aspect of personalized learning. Differentiated instruction—a practice many expert teachers have employed for years—is one way to accomplish this.
In this session, participants will learn techniques to differentiate in the math classroom, first by experiencing learning as a student and then reflecting alongside fellow participants. Participants will be led through a unit design process that will also provide an opportunity to try out the activities from a student’s point of view.
A portion of this design process includes the development of more challenging, open-ended assessment tasks aligned to school graduation standards that encompass the Common Core Mathematical Practices. Participants will complete an assignment and experience the possibilities for differentiation as they work authentically with the same problem. Participants will also have the opportunity to examine student work on this same problem and discuss the variety of ways that students can show success.
Session
Teaching + Learning
Assessing Learning in a Proficiency-Based Learning System
As schools move to implement personalized learning and enable students to demonstrate their learning in more individualized ways, the role of assessment becomes increasingly paramount. How can we ensure that while we personalize learning, we continue to define consistent and equitable standards for all students? In this session, coaches from the Great Schools Partnership will share strategies and resources that educators can use to create schools and classrooms in which students and teachers use a variety of methods to get a clear understanding of students’ strengths and weaknesses. Through discussion, interactive activities, and the review of examples, participants will consider how students can produce evidence of learning, and will explore how educators can use task-neutral scoring criteria to assess what students know and can do when they are engaged in different learning experiences.
Session
Teaching + Learning
Presenters
Mary Hastings (Senior Associate), Christina Horner (Senior Associate), Jon Ingram (Senior Associate)
On Your Way!: The Proficiency-Based Learning Journey Simplified
Proficiency-based teaching and learning systems are designed to help students take charge of their learning by asking these three questions: Where do I want to be? Where am I now? How can I close the gap? In this interactive workshop, participants will hear about the fundamental components of an effective proficiency-based teaching and learning system and learn about an array of resources to support them along their journey. Participants will also begin to develop a plan that addresses policies, practices, and community-engagement activities that will lead to the successful implementation of proficiency-based learning.
Session
Teaching + Learning
Presenters
Tony Lamair Burks II (Senior Associate) + Kate Gardoqui (Senior Associate)
Reflection and Collaboration to Enhance Instructional Practice
While the end of the school year is in sight, there is still time to reach each of your students and ensure they all finish the year well. Which students are thriving? Which ones, despite your best efforts, are still struggling? How might you use an extended block of time with colleagues from across the country to reflect on your practice in a way that allows you to hone in on specific elements that will help students reach their year-end goals? Using a self-assessment tool, participants will identify areas of focus to enhance their instructional practice. Through reflecting on elements of effective instruction, participants will consider ways that attention to these elements can help teachers reach all learners. Participants will leave with a set of strategies to enhance their own practice, strengthen work with their professional learning group, or design school-wide professional development.
Session
Teaching + Learning
Presenters
Jean Haeger (Senior Associate) + Nicole Bradeen (Senior Associate)
Members Only: League of Innovative Schools Networking Meeting Leading and Learning for Equity
This meeting is for current League members. We will engage in interactive, collegial conversations and learning meant to deepen our understanding of equity, and will consider strategies for reaching the most vulnerable populations and ensuring their success.